Hellenvill to hunua? A year older and perhaps a year wiser?

A year older and perhaps a year wiser?

Yep it's my birthday today (as for how old I am - well  it's not nice to ask a lady her age : )  so what's this birthday girl up to today?  Riding though auckland on her bike  - the days riding gets underway a bit later then planed starting with a climb up hill on a back road keeping a eye on the tour Aotearoa route notes as it's not a road I been on before (yes there is still a few roads in nz that I have not been on before : )  the road rises and dips a few times as it heads towards auckland city on different back roads - in a few places I stop to look up the maps on my phone so I can work out just where I am and to stay on the tour Aotearoa route though auckland

From the edge of the city the ta route heads though auckland on a fun mix of cycle ways , roads and the odd ride through a park or 2 - the cycle way takes me towards the cbd before I turned off it on to a mix of streets that lead me though the city (stopping at a bike shop to get a few spokes to replace one that I broke in the back wheel) and heading up one of the old vocaner cones  Mt eden?  Partly as it's one of the photo stops on the tour Aotearoa route (there is 30 photos stops on the route)  then it's back down the hill and across the old  mangers bridge then on towards the airport  - in places the tour Aotearoa route follows around the same route at the te Araroa trail so in different parts I remember places from when I walked through Auckland on the te Araroa trail in 2014 (i walked the north island part of the trail in 2014 - 1500 + km over 108 days)  

Near the airport there is a error in the notes (fixed in the next set of notes I think ) so i end up doing a few km off route before I work out what's going on and end up doing a u-tune on a busy 4 lane road (not fun) once I'm back on Route I head past a supermarket so I stop to get some food for the next few days (including a chocolate banana cake - what?  It's a birthday cake for this birthday girl)  then it's back on the road heading towards the south side of auckland at one point riding though a park where I end up looking up the park on the net to work out what paths to ride on to get to where I should be  then some more city riding before I can escape the city : )   

Once I get out of the city I can go one of 2 ways towards Thames - around the coast though clevedon (the way I tend to used to get south out of auckland)  or though hunua (inland route)  - after so thought I take the in land route - mostly as it's on roads  I have not done yet on the bike yet - it's been a nice day for riding and it looks to be good weather over night as well so I deside to put on my bike lights on and ride into the sun and into the night

There's just about no traffic on the roads - only saw one car of young people being a pain  - I did have one car drive besides me as I climbed up a hill just after dark asking me what I was doing and where I was going - my response was I'm riding my bike up a hill in the dark and ask me tomorrow where I'm heading for tonight as by then I might be able to say where I'm spending the night : )  as im riding until I decide to stop some where in the night /morning : )  one of the fun things about night riding is you can't see the big hill you about to ride up : ) 

It's a great night for spending time out riding on the bike with nice weather (now that the temperature has dropped to a nicer leavel - it was a hot day to be out on the bike today)  after a few hours of
riding I start getting a bit sleepy (well it has been a long and hard  day on the bike for this girl today) so i start looking for a safe place to camp for a few hours (planning a early start to beat the heat of the day)  at some point in time I ride pass a hall (one of the many town halls that are all over the place in nz) so i decide to have a look around to see if I can find a safe place for the tent - I do find one so after setting up camp I head off to sleep for the night /morning : )